Chicago’s unseasonably warm weather has decided it has indulged us long enough: today is a day cold enough to require a Serious Coat. (We’ve been in the high 60s for weeks, now, and temperatures in the high 60s allow for Somewhat Frivolous Coats, at least around here.)
I have a couple winter coats to choose from. There’s the black puffer coat with the furry trim, the sporty-looking Helly Hansen zipper-upper great for ice skating (it’s almost time!), and then there’s the camel-colored wool coat that makes me feel like Jessica Lange in any movie from the 1980s. Which do you suppose is my favorite?
Well, it really does depend on the weather, but if I had to go live on a desert island where winter coats were suddenly necessary, I’d have to pick the that boxy camel-colored coat. It makes me feel like an adult — but in a good way, like someone could come and ask me for advice and I would have something substantive to say. That coat makes me feel like paying the gas bill and picking up a gallon of milk is kinda sexy. Does anyone out there know what I’m talking about?
When I put on the coat, I felt in the pocket and found half a Ritter Sport chocolate bar!
I haven’t decided if I should eat it. Chocolate keeps pretty well, but it’s been at least six months since I wore this coat.
There’s something touching and sweet about the things we find in our winter coat pockets a season later, don’t you think? Who was the girl who ate the chocolate bar? What was she thinking about? Was it terribly cold or did she think:
“I think it’s time to switch over to a Frivolous Coat. Spring is here.”
Colleen
Eat it before you decide you should not
Elizabeth O
I’d choose the camel coat too. I had just such a coat for many years till I became allergic to wool and the classic look wasn’t worth the itchy throat and eyes. I still miss it. When my mother wore one in the 1940s and ’50s, they were called polo coats.
Gina
Eat it, eat it!!!!!
Deb KimballS H5
I would have picked the camel coat too!
Emily
My husband and I went to a matinee this afternoon. When we arrived it was in the mid 60s but when we left it was 44!! On the way home it started raining, then sleeting, and a few minutes later there was snow in our “wintery mix.”
I pulled out last year’s purple pea coat and all I found was tissues in the pocket. I’m just glad they were not used!
(At least taste the chocolate to see if it is still edible. You never know unless you try.)
Neame
The last Serious Winter Coat I had was decades ago. I grew up in Chicago. Winters were cold and standing on the corner waiting for a bus in my short skirt and coat to match was more than a body could endure. I found a very long somewhat overused fur coat at the Salvation Army and in my price range. The original owners of those pelts had never been fully identified (this was pre-animal rights). Just the thing. I was hippie-smart and warm to boot. Nothing could touch me, certainly not the wind off the lake while awaiting the bus. Good times….
Sarah
As long as the chocolate has remained in the coat pocket and the coat has been safely stowed in your apartment, it should be good to go. Eat & enjoy. Ditto for the camel coat — I know just what you mean and you express it so well.
Christine
I love finding surprises in things that have been put into storage. Recently, I helped my 81 year old mother clean out her closet. We were getting donations together for a local community that had been the victims of a tornado. Mom handed me a wallet and said, “Here, you want this?” I opened it up and found a hundred dollar bill. We laughed and laughed. We laughed even harder when she opened another wallet and found the same thing. When my father was alive, he was the king of stashing money. We agreed that he was there with us and had put the money there as a joke.
Lori E
I took my 90 yr old mother’s coat to the cleaners today and you don’t want to know what I found in her pockets.
Barbara
I especially like to find change in a coat pocket I haven’t worn in a long time. That camel coat sounds divine!
Jennifer
When I was a kid, my dad used to buy each of us a KitKat on our first ski trip of the year. This was to be kept in our pocket in case we went off the wrong side of the mountain. (From the bunny hill! I never was much of a skier) We weren’t supposed to eat it until the last trip of the season, and we didn’t always realize it _was_ the last trip of the year until later. I found a few beat up KitKat’s at the beginning of the following seasons.
Linda
Girl, what are you waiting for???? EAT THAT CHOCOLATE!!!!
Ivy
Love their Marzipan variety. It’s delicious–and it’s vegan!